Is Miata always the answer?

[HBird]

The answer to your question is in the name of the car itself

Miata
Is
Always
The
Answer



I've only driven some in autocross events and they are the fastest slow car I've ever been in. I honestly don't think I've driven cars as fun as Miatas.

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[Joyride]

Love the idea! I don’t have a Miata but I love my 2008 Solstice GXP. These little cars are great to have to scratch that manual transmission fix. Nothing better than zipping around town or a track as a contrast to the Ranger.

 

[2020FRL]

Can you put a damper on it?

 

[Mellow]

Can you put a damper on it?

Yes... 2 in the trunk!

 

[Kawffin]

I'm eyeballing a 1.6 NA Miata right now. 1990 w about 35k miles. Looks clean. Thinking about checking it out tomorrow. If I get it, it would be replacing my '17 FiST with about 47k miles on it. I'd come out with about $4k-$5k in cash after all said and done also.

Thoughts?

Wife is giving me a lot of shit. But she doesn't seem totally against the idea.

If I was going to get any second vehicle it would be a miata or a fiesta st. Pretty soon you won't be able to find a solid miata for that kinda price.

 

[Mellow]

Just watch out for the itch to upgrade stuff... as soon as I got mine I:
- new wheels/tires/coilovers
- android head unit
- recovered seats w/perforated leather
- steering wheel
- gear shift knob
- superQ exhaust
- clear wind deflector
- quilted floor liners
- beefier strut tower brace
- LED lighting everywhere except HID headlights
- etc... etc... etc...

 

[D Fresh]

If I was going to get any second vehicle it would be a miata or a fiesta st. Pretty soon you won't be able to find a solid miata for that kinda price.

For sure. My FiST had been a blast. But I'm feeling it's time to switch it up.

 

[D Fresh]

Just watch out for the itch to upgrade stuff... as soon as I got mine I:
- new wheels/tires/coilovers
- android head unit
- recovered seats w/perforated leather
- steering wheel
- gear shift knob
- superQ exhaust
- clear wind deflector
- quilted floor liners
- beefier strut tower brace
- LED lighting everywhere except HID headlights
- etc... etc... etc...

That's pretty much any vehicle I own!

 

[Mellow]

That's pretty much any vehicle I own!

What was I thinking? LOL

 

[WorldPax]

Of course it's the answer.

Also make pretty good secondary tow vehicles.

 

[D Fresh]

Went down and took a look at it today. Looks to be as advertised. Super clean and straight. Couple of spots where the paint has been touched up, and the right front fender has been replaced due to a parking lot mishap.

Did not get a chance to drive it. Was getting the clutch master cylinder swapped as a part of clutch replacement due to age.

Gonna head down there tomorrow evening for a drive and possibly more.

Trunk was free of rust, and the rockers look good, which is to be expected in our locale.

Anything else I should be looking for?

 

[ctechbob]

Went down and took a look at it today. Looks to be as advertised. Super clean and straight. Couple of spots where the paint has been touched up, and the right front fender has been replaced due to a parking lot mishap.

Did not get a chance to drive it. Was getting the clutch master cylinder swapped as a part of clutch replacement due to age.

Gonna head down there tomorrow evening for a drive and possibly more.

Trunk was free of rust, and the rockers look good, which is to be expected in our locale.

Anything else I should be looking for?

Clutch masters and slaves are a known weak spot. Not that they fail quickly and massively, they just leak over time, so its good those are getting replaced.

The timing belt is supposed to be done every 60k, but it is a non-interference motor, broken belt won't hurt anything other than you having to tow the car somewhere. Do the water pump at the same time.



I'm struggling to remember anything that isn't just a wear item.

The top end might make noise. Pretty common. The HLA's get clogged up over time, some worse than others. Won't hurt the motor, more annoying than anything. Wouldn't stop me from buying a nice example.

Sometimes they tick for a bit when cold, sometimes they tick when driven hard and are hot. You can play around with oil weights sometimes to mitigate it.

Alignment bolts should probably be replaced. If they are original they will eventually stretch and not hold the alignment properly or clunk. The new design is stronger. If you hear a clunk or a pop from the front end during braking or cornering, that's probably the reason.

Oil in spark plug holes, replace the valve cover gasket.

The biggest thing with a 91 model is halfway through the run they changed from the short nose crankshaft to the big nose. You want the big nose. The smaller nose can be a bit fragile, but there are still plenty of them out there.

https://www.miata.net/garage/crankshaft.html

Again, I wouldn't not buy a clean example because of it, but just keep it in the back of your mind. Engine swaps are not hard and there's still big nose used and new units out there last I knew.

The factory shocks are going to be shot by now, plan to upgrade.

The factory shifter bushing can wear out and cause sloppy shifting. There's an aluminum replacement that fixes it right up. While your there, replace the shifter boots, they're probably trashed if they've never been changes. You should probably plan on replacing them every 3-4 years, they wear out quick usually.

A good synthetic GL5 gear lube in the rear end (It only holds something like a quart) and some Redline MT90 in the transmission. Don't use GL5 in the transmission, you'll hate it.

Upgrades....

The #1 thing when upgrading. Don't lower the car too much without planning for new upper mounts. There's not a lot of shock travel in the factory setup and lowering a good amount will put you on the hard factory bump stops all the time. It will handle and ride like crap. The aftermarket of course has solutions. Shorter shocks (Koni Race) or the upper mounts from an NB combined with progressive urethane bumpstops work wonders, especially in the rear.

Fancy brakes with stock power. Just not necessary. You can run sticky Dot-R compound tires with factory 1.6 brakes with just a pad upgrade to a suitable track pad. If push comes to shove and you need more braking, you can install the larger brakes from a 1.8L car pretty easily.

Be careful with using a big front swaybar with the factory springs. You can tear the mounts off the car. If you use a higher rate spring, you'll probably be ok. Ground Control's coil-over kit comes with 375# front and 250# rear if memory serves. They are an excellent jumping off point paired with a good set of shocks. I preferred Koni.

Get a good alignment, this applies to anything from Stock to modded. A good performance alignment by a competent shop does wonders for these cars. Don't settle for a lifetime Firestone alignment unless that shop comes recommended from some local people.

I'm sure I'll think of something else tonight.

**EDIT**

Told you I'd think of something else. It is not unheard of for the pinion nut on the differential to back off. Happened to me and destroyed the unit. It may well be a good idea to hit it with a new nut and loctite. I can't remember the procedure for doing that offhand and if you are driving it on the street, I don't think I would worry about it. But if you are going to tack it, it would be a good idea.

 

[GitRDone]

Shawn that was a really good tech summary. Miata.net is a great site with lots of good info, and fellow owners.

 

[ctechbob]

Shawn that was a really good tech summary. Miata.net is a great site with lots of good info, and fellow owners.

Thanks!

It's what I could remember off the top of my head. I've been out of the Miata game for about 4 years now, but I'd been over mine multiple times, usually not having to fix things, just tweak them. It's amazing how hard you can beat on them and they just don't care.

I only ever remember having two things go bad. The pinion nut that backed off and destroyed my diff, and I had a U-Joint failure in the driveshaft. I replaced both with good used parts and continued on. Neither one left me stranded, but the differential could have.

 

[OFC Ranger]

So what does the Miata offer over say, the BRZ/FRS?

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